Calls for more affordable childcare

More support should be offered to parents for pre-school childcare, a family support worker has said.

Ally De Carteret, from Home Start Guernsey, said she believed the current 15 hours per week of free pre-school education allowance financed by the States of Guernsey was not enough, and parents often had to weigh up how finances would work when considering such care.

She also said it was more than an affordability issue, as children faced missing opportunities for to develop early socialisation skills.

The States said it had a "commitment is to understand what is possible within the current financial landscape, to make the strongest case we can for the things islanders have told us matter".

Free pre-school childcare is only available from the age of three for 38 weeks, during school term times.

Dragonflies is a free family group led by De Carteret where parents can drop in.

She said: "We are seeing a lot of parents that obviously can't afford to do child care before the 15 free hours, so therefore some children are then lacking in certain areas with their reading, their writing, their just general socialising skills."

Offering either more hours, or offering earlier-on care was something De Carteret said could be considered by the States.

Parent Ciara Harnden said she made the decision to drop her work hours to be at home with her children as it worked out more financially viable than paying nursery fees. She added she also had family help.

She said: "For one child, it probably would have been affordable for us to send him to nursery almost full-time, but, thankfully, my parents had offered to do some childcare for us."

While she said she was grateful for the 15 hour allowance, she added it was tricky to balance the years before that with bills and a mortgage.

Father of two Nicholas Farmer said weighing up nursery costs factored in when he and his partner were deciding whether to have a second child.

He said: "We couldn't afford to have two children in childcare at the same time and not have the income in, so that's how it affected us personally; and we found it quite strenuous on our income and decisions for holidays and things like that."

He said he felt Guernsey might be a bit behind compared with places such as the UK with the financial support that was offered for pre-school child care.

Deputy Paul Montague, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture said shared responsibility and coordination across the whole government was key when it comes to support for children and families.

He said: "We will continue to challenge working practices, drive efficiencies and ensure we get the best possible value for money, but we also have to be honest that these ambitions sit within the reality of a limited public purse.

"Our commitment is to understand what is possible within the current financial landscape, to make the strongest case we can for the things islanders have told us matter, and to be open with the community about the trade-offs which might be required along the way."

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